18" Powermax PMA18 Actuator Motor for BUD = absolute GARBAGE quality!

[primestar31]

Recently bought the 18" Powermax PMA18 Actuator Motor for my Sadoun 6 foot dish. It was a really cheap price, but it's really hard to find any 18" actuators out there, so I finally jumped on this one. Finally got to the point where I am planning to install it today. I figured I'd hook it up to the V-box X inside my house first, and see how it works.

So, I remove the back cover to get to the wire connector block. First thing I notice, is that there is a broken-off (due to BAD solder job) wire coming from internal gear box (from the motor). This wire clearly belongs soldered to one of the limit switches. So, I get out my solder gun (for high-power heat) tin the wire and the switch connector, and soldered them back together. While doing so, I notice that the plastic limit switch cams can be lightly touched, and the whole assembly wobbles back and forth several degrees on whatever pins it through to the gear inside the motor case. I'm thinking maybe I can open it all up and tighten up a screw to eliminate this wobble. I make some reference marks, and then open it up, and the back side of the post for the limit cams is simply a very thin light cheap plastic gear. It's already tight, but the post appears to simply sit in a hole between the inside and outside of the plastic plate. There's nothing you can do to fix this... I also notice that ALL the gears are thin cheap, cheap, CHEAP plastic, and that there is almost NO grease in there whatsoever!

I put everything back together, wire it up to the V-box, and hold the tube and ran it back from limit WEST to limit EAST multiple times, and wrote down the absolute limit numbers I get. The limit switches do operate ok, despite that assembly being crap, so that's good. I do notice that it sounds quite noisy while running in and out.

Anyway for now, I'm still going to install it since I'm stuck with it, but I'm scared it'll fail very easily, and perhaps my dish will get damaged. I can't believe for a moment it'll last for long, and certainly won't survive a Michigan winter.

Is there any QUALITY 18" (or 24" if no 18) BUD actuators left out there for new purchase? I'm willing to pay for it, but I want something GOOD like in the "old days".

Hopefully this info will help somebody in their decision to buy a new actuator, as I can't recommend this one under any circumstances.

Thanks!

 

[dougruss]

Check out.....

[URL]http://www.impaktproducts.com/CBand-KuBand-Linear-Dish-and-Solar-Panel-Movers-p-1-c-270.html[/URL]

[URL]http://www.venturemfgco.com/satellite-actuators.html[/URL]

 

[gabshere]

von weise still makes them but they price in at about $200
venture makes several but have to be careful on the counts, the maxi ball looks tough don't know a price

i know several years ago i researched actuators and if i was to buy one now it would have to be marked HD ( some are marked QARL & HARL) HARL is the HD its made a little bit better

my other option was to find several of the old arms and just clean them up for use later ( this is the most cost effective way ) plus you know what you have

if looking for older ones
superjack II HD was a strong lil arm
von weise
Thompson Saginaw

 

[primestar31]

Well, I got the actuator installed JUST in time for a major thunder-storm today!

I have the V-Box X hooked up standalone right now. I still don't have the polar mount and dish tweaked in completely, but from just eyeballing it to my true south, it's got to be almost dead-on! Since I've had the dish fixed on (in-between) 99 & 101, I made a pencil mark for that before removing the angle iron. I had previously set the arm so it was about 12 turns out from limiting out on west side (retracted). I then shimmed and mounted it on the dish, eyeballed approximately where I figured 139w would be (which I KNOW I can't receive because of trees) I then ran the motor up until it matched the pencil marks, and I had ThisTV back running on the screen. Oh, I'm using a Geosatpro C2 lnbf right now. Then the thunderstorm started! I then spent the rest of the day with a pen and pad of paper, and moving the dish, scanning and marking down East limit, PEAK, and West limit (6 foot Sadoun dish, so I'm fighting adjacent sat signals close together) of signal for each sat. So far without tweaking more, I can get from every sat from 83w to 123w (trees block further west).

On the V-Box, the count is: 515 to 845 for that range (207 absolute East limit, and 998 absolute West limit). I can get a HINT of signal for 72W at around 455, but no channels scan in right now. The Powermax arm is working quite well, I just don't trust it to hold up for long. I read up on the Venture 18" Mini-Max, and apparently they import that from China, so I'm not sure of the quality of that arm. Even if their other ones are built in-house, I'll have to do more research to see in the Mini-Max is worth buying.

 

[Magic Static]

The MiniMax is a cheap import. The rest of the Venture jacks are made in the US

 

[primestar31]

The MiniMax is a cheap import. The rest of the Venture jacks are made in the US

That sucks. I'd hate to spend more money, and find out it's about the same crap quality as the Powermax one. I do have an old Superjack 2 that has a bad motor, but I've been working on the tube with the motor removed, and have that greased and working well. Guess I might be tearing the motor down, and seeing exactly what's wrong with it. Perhaps I can get it all rebuilt and working again and use that. Or maybe I'll get lucky on an Ebay purchase. Nobody in Michigan gives away BUD's compared to other states, so it's unlikely I'll ever find one that way.

It's a shame that nobody seems to build a good 18" actuator for sat dishes anymore. Guess the "China Syndrome" has hit these hard also...

 

[turbosat]

You can use a bigger/better actuator, on the ordinary old polar mount dishes I have, at least. I have a 24" actuator on my old 'motorized primestar on polar mount' dish, haha. And that was a motor I pieced together out of parts of old, broken down motors. It had a little 5' c-band dish on it before, so an 18" actuator would've been sufficient for it but I just used what I had. When I took that dish off it, and made the mount to hold the primestar dish I never replaced that old motor. And it just keeps on going and going. You do have to move the clamp further up the actuator tube, to get the western birds on it, or it won't retract far enough. Long as you don't put undue pressure on the tube by doing that , it'll work. Mine does, that is.